While students may not have been clamoring to find flights and tickets to this national championship, the men’s cross country team competed in the NCAA Cross Country National Championships yesterday morning in Terre Haute, Ind.
The team tied for 28th place with Duke University. Big 12 rival Oklahoma State won the title for its first national championship in school history. The Cowboys were followed by two-time defending champion Oregon, who placed 2nd. Alabama rounded out the top three.
Despite finishing toward the bottom of the 31-team pool, the Longhorns were not too disappointed by the results.
“The guys have come a long way,” said assistant coach John Hayes. “This was a team that didn’t qualify for nationals last year and now they are one of the top 30 teams in the country.
Considering there are over 300 schools that compete in cross country, that’s pretty good.”
The Horns were led by senior Habben Berhane, who finished in 79th place with a time of 30 minutes and 58 seconds in the 10,000 meter event. Sophomores Rory Tunningley and Brock Simmons followed, finishing in 102nd and 122nd place respectively. Senior Bradley Lowry and sophomore Brian Rhodes-Devey placed in the top 160.
Hayes thought the meet was a positive sign for the future of the young Texas team. The Horns will only lose Berhane next season, and they have many bright young stars such as freshman Austin Roth, who finished in the top 200 yesterday.
“Our goal was to finish inside the top 25, so we fell a little short of that, but I really thought the guys ran a better race than they did at regionals,” Hayes said. “They’ve continued to improve from race to race and have set a nice foundation for where we hope to take this program in the future."
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